Before deciding upon History as my major, I thoroughly explored the liberal arts, considering Art, English, and Botany. I finally settled on a History major during my third year, which was spent abroad at Oxford University. In the end, I was drawn to History, as it seemed to be the discipline that would be most helpful in figuring out why things were the way they were.

Moving forward in History seemed daunting, as I was concerned that I would tread too closely along the path forged by my grandfather, Dee A. Brown, a renowned historian. Changing directions a bit, I enrolled and completed a master’s program in diplomacy and international commerce at the University of Kentucky. Unsure about proceeding along this path, I took a year off to work in a bookstore and read novels.

After that I completed my degrees from Emory University with an emphasis on the nineteenth-century South. This work allowed me to publish my first book Bathed in Blood: Hunting and Mastery in the Old South. Since joining the faculty at Simpson, I have been awarded Simpson College’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the Faculty Research Award.

Soon after joining the faculty at Simpson my research interests became caught up in the Reacting to the Past series of historical role playing games. In addition to serving as the chair of the Editorial Board, I am also author or co-author of several games in the series including:

ForestDiplomacy: War, Peace, and Land on the Colonial Frontier

Kentucky, 1861: Loyalty, State, and Nation

Modernism vs. Traditionalism: Art in Paris, 1888-89

Self-Determination, Empire, and Security: Yalta, 1945

I recently traveled to several colleges and universities in China and Japan to teach faculty there about RTTP.

While these games are rather serious and pedagogically intense, I also enjoy games that are simply fun. I especially like the absurdity of Simpson’s Humans vs. Zombies club, so I have served as its faculty adviser since its inception. As a spinoff of this, I worked with students to publish A History of the Great Zombie War: The Simpson Experience.